Defense Says FBI Plants Pushed Alleged Whitmer Kidnappers to Commit Crime
By Steven Kovac @ The Epoch Times
As the second trial of two men charged with plotting to kidnap Michigan’s Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 enters week two, prosecutors presented audio and text evidence supporting their case.
Defendant Adam Fox, 38, of Wyoming, Mich., was secretly recorded expressing glee, as he and his acquaintance—now turned FBI informant, Dan Chappel—cased the premises and surrounding area of Democrat Whitmer’s lakeside summer home.
Fox and Chappel, a 35-year-old U.S. Army veteran, allegedly drove by the residence several times, drove into nearby Elk Rapids to check out the local police station, and visited the now infamous boat launch where Whitmer’s husband dropped his wife’s name in an effort to get the staff to put his craft into the water during the height of the COVID-19 lockdown—a time when such activity was prohibited.
The boat launch incident sparked the widespread use around Michigan of the slogan, “Rules for thee but not for me,” a pejorative phrase that has hounded Whitmer ever since and has fueled public indignation.
The other defendant in the case is Barry Croft Jr., 38, of Delaware.
Fox and Croft were tried for the first time in April 2022, a proceeding that resulted in the jury being unable to reach a verdict.
Two other men, Brandon Caserta, 34, of Canton, Mich., and Daniel Harris, 24, of Lake Orion, Mich., were acquitted at that time of all charges.
Before the first trial, two other men, Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks pleaded guilty.